DISA to open source administrative software

The Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) plans to open source a suite of programs that it developed for administrative tasks. The agency has signed a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement with the Open Source Software Institute (OSSI) to help release the source code of the programs.

The set of 50 programs, collectively called the Corporate Management Information System (CMIS), handles duties such as human resource management, training, security, acquisition and related functions. All the programs were developed by internally by DISA, and are used by more that 16,000 users worldwide.

“Numerous other government agencies have asked if we'd allow them to
adopt CMIS for their internal use," Jack Penkoske, DISA's director
of manpower, security and personnel, said in a statement. "We believe this
will be a win-win for all involved.”

By allowing third-party developers to view, modify, and reuse the software source code, DISA is hoping that others will improve the code when they modify it for their own purposes.